Page 70 of My Road Trip with a Vampire: Season One

“Yeah, but I got another idea when we were at the party. Come on.”

I take his hand.

He resists at first but eventually slides his fingers through mine as we climb the stairs. Even now I can feel the slight bursts of doubt and guilt coming across the blood bond. Hints of scarlet light up the darkness. Dennis must notice it too because he tightens his grip on my hand and grunts.

We step onto the landing of the fourth floor. There's faint music playing.

“Do you hear that?” I whisper. The air starts to chill.

“Kind of,” Dennis answers.

I follow the light twinkling sound. Its tune is vaguely familiar but too distant to place.

“Blue Danube,” Dennis says under his breath.

“What?”

“The song—Blue Danube. It’s a little before your time.”

“You think?”

We both go still when a floorboard creaks down the hall. I shine my light around, trying to prepare for anything that might pop out at me.

Something red shimmers on the outer edge of the flashlight’s halo.

“Holy shit.”

“I see her too,” Dennis says.

Maybe my Martha theory is wrong. Maybe she resides here and haunts the whole campus for funsies when she’s bored. But when I shine the light on her, she’s too faint to be the ghost who approached me. She stares straight ahead, not noticing us.

“She's barely corporeal,” Dennis says. “How did she have the power to appear to you in the bathroom?”

I study her dress; there are dark blood stains near her wrists. They weigh down the sleeves and make the whole garment hang limp around her shoulders. It’s nothing like the structured gown I saw back at Courtney’s place. There isn't any lace or fancy corsetting. She's not holding a parasol.

The music stops when she sees us.

“Did she visit you?” she asks. “She never comes to see me anymore.”

“Martha?” I step closer, but she doesn’t seem to notice. “Who are you talking about?”

She doesn’t reply. She walks past us, trailing her hand along the wall like it’s the only thing keeping her upright. The music starts again, coming from further down the hallway.

“I’m pretty sure that’s Martha,” I say, feeling Dennis move beside me.

“But that’s not the ghost you met earlier.”

I shake my head.

“No, I think this situation is similar to what happened back in Delaware. Something Brittany said made me think there’s another spirit that feeds on negative energy.”

“She said that the lady in red visited her when she was struggling.” He shifts, creating some distance between us. “And this clicked for you while we were kissing?”

I stare up at him, letting my light hang by my side. I wish he couldn’t see me so clearly in the darkness.

“Was it a bad kiss?” he asks softly, a hint of humor in his voice.

“No.” I swallow, not sure how to explain it without calling him out. “I started seeing the scarlet glow again when you bit my lip. You felt…bad. When I was in bed with Courtney it was worse.”